


The Strange and The Familiar

by Jyou_no_Sonoko



Category: Chilling Adventures of Sabrina (TV 2018)
Genre: F/F, I'm nostalgic for Takao ok, Japanese Mythology & Folklore, Spirited Away - Freeform, These are things which can and do co-exist between life partners, and Mary's is not, and that's okay., anyway Lilith's sexuality is a big part of who she is, kabedon, kitsune yokai, marith, oh yeah and, plz 2021 let me see the mountain again, spontaneous voyage abroad, this December is rough
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-06
Updated: 2020-12-06
Packaged: 2021-03-09 22:41:40
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,964
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27923950
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Jyou_no_Sonoko/pseuds/Jyou_no_Sonoko
Summary: Written for the Marithember2020 "Holiday" prompt.In the midst of year-end marking, Lilith spirits Mary away for some fresh mountain air abroad, and while there, she is distracted by an old, intimate acquaintance.
Relationships: Mary Wardwell | Madam Satan | Lilith & Original Mary Wardwell, Mary Wardwell | Madam Satan | Lilith/Original Female Character(s), Mary Wardwell | Madam Satan | Lilith/Original Mary Wardwell
Comments: 4
Kudos: 17
Collections: Marithember2020





	The Strange and The Familiar

From the observation deck at the peak of Mount Takao – 599 meters of uphill hike – Tokyo stretched out, a hazy blue basin framed by spruce in the fading colours of Autumn. It would surely have taken the two of them less than the two and a half hours it did to reach the zenith, had Mary not asked Lilith to translate every illustrated sign on the way up; had they not stopped to appreciate the little, round stone figures with their bright red bibs; paused to stare down at the ever-steepening angle of the trees and the roots which fed like ropey veins beneath the forest paths; to question the odd modern markers placed here and there in the soil; to collect 'cute' pebbles or leaves; or to listen to the sound of chanting coming low on the breeze, as they drew closer to mountain-top temples.

But then, if Lilith had preferred not to do such things, she would never have spirited Mary away to this place.

“ _Lilith, I can't just take a trip now, the final grading is due on Tuesday.”_

“ _That's four days away. Look at you, you'll easily be done, even factoring in the frivolity of sleep. And you need to get outside and breathe the fresh air.”_

“ _Maybe. But, still, if we were to go somewhere, the travel time...”_

“ _There's no such thing. Do you have hiking shoes?”_

“ _Somewhere, but I've never needed them for the forest, it's so flat around here.”_

“ _Then find them.”_

“ _Why?”_

Lilith had given her an enigmatic smile, one often displayed, which could look either playful or predatory, depending on how the light hit the First Witch's face.

“ _Are you feeling spry, Mary?”_

And Mary had placed down her pen, shaken herself free from the drudgery, and met Lilith's gaze with matching assurance. _“Is that a challenge? Lilith?”_

Indeed it had been, the verticality of the adventure tiring Mary more than she attempted to betray. But they had made it, invigorated in the wide open space, with the taste of history in the chill air, amid foreign murmurs in many more tongues than the native Japanese.

“Would you care to eat?” Lilith asked, already knowing the answer, and cast her eyes in the direction of a preserved section of mountain village, where traditional street foods were available to hikers.

Mary paused before answering, listening to her body with a frown. “Yes, I suppose so. But... just give me a few more minutes with the view? I knew I should have brought my camera.”

“That hefty thing would have just gotten in your way.”

“But I want to remember it.”

“You will.” Lilith tried not to imagine melancholy into Mary's words, both then and whenever she spoke of memory, even in passing. Which was difficult, when the subject was so unpredictably fragile.

“And if I don't?”

Lilith placed a hand on her shoulder, one which had somehow retained its plum nail-polish throughout. “If you don't, we'll just come back. And remind you.”

She saw the gratitude come surging up in Mary's eyes, fresh as a mountain spring, and successfully fought back her urge to flinch away.

That gratitude was soon accompanied by a slow shake of wonderment, and Mary reached up to join their fingers. “It's really just that easy, isn't it? I still can't get used to it.”

“Some things ought to be easy. When so much suffering is already inevitable.”

Mary opened her mouth as though for a mellow rejoinder, but thought better of it and merely squeezed Lilith's hand, turning her gaze once more to the view. “Ten more minutes?”

“Of course.”

“Thank you.”

With that, they parted, Mary following the curve of the courtyard to appreciate different sight-lines, and Lilith stepping back to look over the weathered gold and grey height-marker, so commonly photographed alongside tourists.

Presently, a woman appeared at her side, a deep blue and green furisode patterned with maple leaves contrasting with her unusually pale skin.

“Paying your respects to Inari?” Lilith asked.

“It's been some time since I've seen you here,” the woman replied, ignoring her question. Her English was, as always, fluent, but her accent hailed from long before Edo became Tokyo.

“I've been busy.”

“Last you were at Takaosanguchi, it was with the red-headed witch.”

Lilith's lips tightened. “A diversion. Our period of civility was woefully brief.”

“I am sorry. She was... an acolyte?”

“A miko, you might say. If taken at her word. But her loyalty revealed itself to be rather lacking, to say the least.” The bitterness on her tongue was unwelcome, given the day, and she moved away from the monument, knowing the woman would follow her.

They traced the historical fixtures, Lilith passing the occasional glance at Mary's back, which did not go unnoticed by her companion.

“Why do you take her appearance? You could have any you desire.”

“That's a very complicated story. I'd rather not get into it.”

“But you don't hunt in your demon skin anymore, do you? Even though it is faster, and stronger.”

“It's much simpler for you, Kaede.”

“ _Sou desu ka?_ ”

“ _Sou._ You enjoy your yokai form. You slip between the worlds with ease. It was never a question of corruption for you.”

She hummed softly in understanding, then turned eyes bordered by deep red eyeshadow and thickly lined in black, to gaze across the courtyard at Mary, who was still absorbed in the view.

“She smells like you, Ririsu.”

They strolled past the visitors' centre and casually rounded it, out of mortal sight.

“We share a bed.”

“Do you?”

“Not in that way.”

“Are you sure?”

Lilith regarded her haughtily, avoiding the temptation to narrow her eyes. “When did you decide that my personal life was yours to unveil?”

The woman's pretty lips quirked, a sharp canine briefly visible. “What a modern idea for you.”

“What?” Her tone held impatience, and a warning.

“A 'personal life'. You have never spoken of such a thing before. It was only Rushifaa-sama and his desires for your time.”

She released a sigh, relieved at the direction. “Things have changed.”

“And you.”

“Perhaps.”

“You have _changed_ , Ririsu.”

Lilith replied not with words but her entire body, stepping in to surround the woman against the well-sealed wood of the gift-shop's rear. “Not in any ways that should concern you.”

The woman's sharp grin turned less sedate, and her silky black hair shifted, as dark-tipped red fox ears pricked up. “ _Ara ara!_ ” she gasped, with pretended affront. “What if the men see?”

Lilith's grin matched hers. “We'll eat them, of course.”

“With the sun still high?”

“More so the fun.” With that Lilith pressed forward, hands supporting her on either side of the fox-woman's shoulders, and kissed her hungrily, teeth meeting teeth. When the woman sighed like a rolling purr, Lilith allowed a growl to rise from her own throat, unbothered at appearing bestial beside a similarly feminine beast.

From below, she heard fabric shuffling, then a soft thud against the wall, which repeated itself seven — no, eight times. Without pulling away, Lilith reached down to stroke one of the many tails, red and black and white.

“You've grown more powerful,” she murmured, barely leaving the woman's lips.

“Of course.”

Lilith followed the tail to its source, one of many shooting out impossibly from the final vertebrae of the woman's spine, and caressed its undersides. “How many young lives did you claim to earn this one?”

“Each one was given willingly.” The woman trembled at her unrelenting touch.

“One of the differences between you and I.”

“Are you jealous?”

Lilith's hand slid around a second tail and held it tightly enough to draw a yip from the yokai's seemingly human lips; suddenly flushed, she drew long-nailed fingers to the source of the sound, feigning bashfulness. “ _Maa_... what a sound for a lady to make.”

“You've given me far better than that.” She lowered her face into the woman's blushing neck and breathed deep of iris perfume and the salty scent of a restaurant kitchen.

Pressed more completely against the building, the woman tipped back her neck and revelled in Lilith's impassioned assault, ears pressing flatter and flatter against her crown.

Then, with the instinct of the wilds, her eyes and ears came alert, tails arching.

“ _Chotto, hora_ ,” she hissed, and Lilith paused, eyebrows raised at the informality.

“ _Nani wo itteiru no?_ ” Lilith breathed, not without annoyance.

The woman did not move away, nor did she fully still her undulations; her concern was for Lilith's sake alone: “Your beloved has vanished.”

“My what?” She lifted her head from the woman's collarbone, teeth grazing as her lips pulled back.

“The mortal woman. She is gone from view.”

Lilith whipped around to peer past the corner of the building, regretting her visible alarm; had Mary somehow seen them in passing and fled, scandalised?

A brush of fur against her arms and the yokai had vanished, their tryst ended with the always-unspoken agreement to continue, on some unknown day.

Rounding the building, away from Mary's previous location, Lilith re-entered the public eye, preternatural vigilance naked in her posture. 

_Where are you?_

She dipped into the visitors' centre, making a quick pass which yielded nothing, then returned to the height monument, raised her jaw to search by both sight and scent. And in her muted distress, she was taken unawares.

“Don't worry,” came the voice from behind, and Lilith turned to find Mary holding out a freshly charcoal-fired dango.

“I wasn't worried,” Lilith replied, caring nothing for how plain the lie was in her voice. After a heartbeat which was slightly less frenzied than before, she accepted the snack.

“Who was she?” Mary's smile was strained, but gentle.

“Oh. So you saw.” She sighed, disappointed yet unashamed. “Her name is Kaede. We've known each other for hundreds of years.”

“An old friend.”

“Yes.”

“Is that how you catch up with all your old friends?”

“Mary, I—”

She shook her head. “It's fine, Lilith. I don't mind. I know who you are.”

Lilith frowned at that, trying to diagnose exactly which 'you' she might mean.

“I made you uncomfortable,” she stated.

“No, you didn't.”

“But you left.”

She shrugged. “I was hungry.”

Lilith paused, caught up once again in the assessment of the mortal before her, whose reactions still managed to confound. Given all that she knew of Mary's upbringing and social milieu, of her notably conservative mortal context, it was so unceasingly strange. To not be judged. To not find herself rejected.

And evidently, her eyes told Mary all of it.

“Lilith. We're not the same. I know that.” She bit into the skewer, and walnut cream snuck onto her upper lip.

“No.” Though, in many ways, they were.

“Thank you for taking me here.” She nibbled further, then gestured that Lilith should not forget about hers.

The sweet, starchy dumpling gave easily to her teeth, just as easily as anything else she might devour.

“You were right,” Mary continued, offering reassurance directly into Lilith's eyes, before gazing past her, towards the horizon.

“As expected. But, if you would care to be more specific?”

Mary's laugh held all the colours of a burgeoning sunset.

“I mean, you were right in what you said,” she gestured with the remains of the dango, “back there: I don't need a camera. Or any sort of souvenir, for that matter.”

“Oh no?”

“Not at all. I'm sure of it.”

“Are you?”

“Not for this, and not for any of the other things you've done for me.”

As was so often the case in the presence of Mary's earnestness, Lilith found her composure hard to maintain. And so she bit into rice-dumpling, in defense.

Even past her thick chewing, however, Mary's voice was clear.

And determined.

“I'm not going to forget.”

**Author's Note:**

>  _"Chotto, hora"_ \- 'Hey, wait a sec' (informal)  
>  _"Nani wo itteiru no?"_ \- 'What are you talking about?' (plain speech, feminine)


End file.
